Larimer ranks in Colorado's top 10 counties for health

Organization's annual report calculates health factors and health outcomes in each county

By Craig Young Reporter-Herald Staff Writer

Posted:
03/26/2014 02:00:00 PM MDT

Berthoud Elementary School fourth-graders take off on their annual jogathon during a weeklong emphasis on exercise and wellness two years ago. A national foundation has ranked Larimer County among Colorado's top 10 counties for health factors and outcomes. (Steve Stoner)

Larimer County is holding its own among the top 10 healthiest counties in the state, according to a health-advocacy organization's annual ranking.

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's report, released Wednesday, shows Larimer County at No. 9 of Colorado's 59 ranked counties for health factors and No. 10 for health outcomes.

Larimer County has slipped a bit in the rankings; last year it was No. 8 in health factors and 9 in outcomes.

The county with the top scores in both factors and outcomes this year is Douglas County; Boulder is at No. 2 for factors and 4 for outcomes, and Weld No. 36 for factors and 18 for outcomes.

The health-outcomes score takes into account the rate of premature death — Larimer's number is better than the state average and the average of the top 10 percent of all counties in the country.

It also factors in quality-of-life areas such as poor or fair health, days with poor physical or mental health and low birth weight. All of Larimer County's statistics in those areas are better or even with the state average.

The health-factors ranking takes into account a much larger set of variables: behaviors such as smoking, drinking and obesity; availability of medical care; social and economic factors such as educational attainment, violent crime and children in poverty and single-parent households; and physical environment, which measures air and water pollution, housing problems and transportation.

Larimer County's worst ranking by far came in the physical environment, No. 54 in the state, with each factor ranking worse than the state average except for driving alone on a long commute to work.

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, created by the founder of Johnson & Johnson health-care company, is a health-focused philanthropic organization that distributes almost $400 million in grants each year.